Anton Chigurh
Character Analysis

The novels main antagonist, Anton Chigurh is a remorseless hit man who kills without hesitation. Anton Chigurh lacks a clear personal history, and is often described in the novel as looking exotic because of his tan skin and blue eyes. Though Chigurh is ruthless in his killing, he is described as a man with principles. He is the only person in the novel who doesn’t care about the money in the briefcase. He perceives himself as the arbiter of fate, and operates outside of conventional understandings of justice and morality. As opposed to an orientation that posits God as the ultimate judge, he believes only in choice, chance, and fate. He sometimes preaches his philosophy before killing his victims, leaving the ultimate decision of whether the individual lives or dies to a coin toss. While Chigurh often seems above the law, he is subject to the laws of choice, chance, and fate like the other characters, as shown through his injuries in the car accident at the end of the novel. Chigurh’s chosen weapon is a bolt gun used for killing cattle in slaughterhouses because of its effectiveness and simplicity, though he doesn’t hesitate to utilize an arsenal of guns through the novel to complete his work. In the end, Chigurh disappears the way he entered the narrative, seemingly into thin air.

Anton Chigurh Quotes in No Country for Old Men

The No Country for Old Men quotes below are all either spoken by Anton Chigurh or refer to Anton Chigurh. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

).
Note: all page numbers and citation info for the quotes below refer to the Vintage edition of No Country for Old Men published in 2006.

Chapter 2
Quotes

Anything can be an instrument, Chigurh said. Small things. Things you wouldnt even notice. They pass from hand to hand. People dont pay attention. And then one day there is an accounting. And after that nothing is the same…you see the problem. To separate the act from the thing. As if parts of some moment in history might be interchangeable with the parts of some other moment. How could that be? Well, it’s just a coin. Yes. That’s true. Is it?

You’ve been giving up things for years to get here. I dont think I even understood that. How does a man decide in what order to abandon his life? We’re in the same line of work. Up to a point. Did you hold me in such contempt? Why would you do that? How did you let yourself get in this situation?

Not everyone is suited to this line of work. The prospect of outsized profits leads people to exaggerate their own capabilities. In their minds. They pretend to themselves that they are in control of events where perhaps they are not. And it is always one’s stance upon uncertain ground that invites the attentions of one’s enemies. Or discourages it.

Every moment in your life is a turning and every one a choosing. Somewhere you made a choice. All followed to this. The accounting is scrupulous. The shape is drawn. No line can be erased. I had no believe in your ability to move a coin to your bidding. How could you? A Person’s path through the world seldom changes and even more seldom will it change abruptly. And the shape of your path was visible from the beginning.

...motel because a second clerk was killed. Bell says that the reason nobody knows what Chigurh looks like is nobody lives long enough to give a description. The sheriff says Chigurh...
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Chapter 7

The narrative shifts to Chigurh as he goes to the Matacumbe Petroleum Group office to kill the man who sent...
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That night, Chigurh goes to the house where Carla Jean was staying with her Grandmother. He searches the...
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Chapter 8

Later that evening, after the officers have left the scene, Chigurh goes to the motel where Moss and the young woman were killed. He knocks the...
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Chapter 9

...from the present tense, and back to the events of the narrative in the past. Chigurh returns the briefcase and its money to its rightful owner, an unnamed man working in...
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...sits at the kitchen table crying over her grandmother. When she goes upstairs, she finds Chigurh sitting in the bedroom. She tells him she doesn’t have the briefcase, but Chigurh tells...
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Carla Jean tries to reason with Chigurh. She tells him that her husband is dead, and the promise Chigurh made to Moss...
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Chigurh asks Carla Jean if she has any final words. She says she has nothing to...
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Chigurh pulls a coin from his pocket and holds it up for Carla Jean to see....
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Before shooting Carla Jean, Chigurh tells her that every moment in her life is a turning and every one a...
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As Chigurh drives away from the house, a Buick runs a stop sign and strikes his truck....
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Chapter 10

...on oneself is a sign of aging. Bell then states that he can’t understand why Chigurh killed Carla Jean. Meanwhile, in a separate incident, the police have a Mexican man in...
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...found the weapon used to kill Carla Jean. The boy who took the gun from Chigurh’s truck sold it, and it ended up in a robbery in Louisiana. The detective tells...
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